Long and Epic Games
by Laurus Nobilis
Summary: Q gets easily bored. The Doctor is always available.


**Long and Epic Games**

The TARDIS was doing the exact opposite of what he wanted. This wasn't a surprise in and of itself. In fact, not that he'd ever admit it to any of his companions, it was _usual_ for the TARDIS to do whatever she very well pleased. But there was something strange this time; something that worried him a little. It felt as if she was struggling… struggling and failing. This couldn't be a good sign. There were very few things that could make the ship do anything against her will. In all honesty, not even _he_ could. The old girl was quite stubborn. If she was going somewhere she didn't want to go, that could only mean trouble.

Or fun, maybe. But probably trouble.

"Or both," a voice said from behind him.

The Doctor jumped in the air, then somehow managed to get a grip on the console and stop his fall before he lost what little dignity he had left.

"Don't _do_ that, Q," he muttered as he turned to look at his unexpected visitor. "It's not funny after the first hundred times."

"I beg to differ. It's still plenty of fun for me," Q replied, making himself comfortable on top of the command console. The Doctor winced at the thought of all the controls he was probably destroying just by sitting of them. Not that he could call them _controls_ right now, of course, with this guy making every decision. No wonder the poor TARDIS was so confused.

"Oh, let's skip all that nonsense and get to the point. Why are you here again?"

"Because I was bored."

"And you wanted to see me," the Doctor said, with the slightest hint of a smug smile. Q's expression didn't change in the least.

"Because I was bored," he repeated.

"Don't you have other people to bother?"

"Well, yes, but Jean-Luc gets repetitive if I poke him too often. So I thought, why not visit an old flame?"

"Friend," the Doctor corrected automatically. "You mean an old _friend_."

"No, I'm sure I know what I mean," Q insisted. "And you didn't even let me finish. I think we should play a game."

"No we shouldn't. I'm not getting dragged into your mad ideas this time. I've had a very bad few days, you know. I have no companions, I've just got away from a spaceship appropriately named Titanic, and right before that I ran into myself. _Again_. Was that you? Because that's not funny anymore either. Although at least it was just the two of me this time, no awkward questions from anyone. It's hard to come up with better explanations than 'oh, you see, somewhere out there there's an omnipotent idiot who can't get enough of me'. You really should get a new hobby."

"I like my current hobby very much, thank you," Q replied. "And it doesn't have to be one of our long and epic games. We could play chess. Shogi. Cricket."

"It _was_ you!"

"Of course it was me. What did you expect? There aren't all that many people who can make a Time Lord cross his own timeline."

"And you say it so proudly, too. Do you know how much of a mess that makes?"

"Not as much as what I have planned right now," said Q, leaning back onto the main pillar. "I lied. We _are_ going to play one of our epic games."

"I didn't expect anything else," the Doctor said truthfully – with a bit of a resigned tone, yes, but truthfully nonetheless. "Where are we going?"

"It's a surprise, of course! What's the fun in telling you now?"

"Don't you think you're going to have enough fun later?"

"Oh, all right, if you're going to be this annoying…" Q sighed, in a way that was much more dramatic than needed. "I've prepared a whole planet of riddles for you. It's like a treasure hunt of sorts."

"… you must be _really_ bored."

"It's not as if you're extremely busy right now, Doctor."

"I'm always busy," he improvised. "There's always something to do. New things to learn, places to visit, planets to save…"

"Like this one, for example," Q interrupted. "Did I mention it explodes if you don't solve the mystery in time?"

"Oh, there you go again, always causing trouble!"

"Odd; there was a time when you liked that quality of me, oh Great Time Lord."

"Well, yes, when it wasn't my problem!" the Doctor exclaimed. "There used to be a whole lot of Time Lords to make sure you didn't do anything too stupid, Q."

"Perhaps. But it's not my fault they aren't around anymore, is it?" he replied.

The Doctor rolled his eyes at him; he should have expected that. Q had never been one to avoid low blows, after all. It was a good thing, then, that he was too used to them to be affected by that kind of nonsense. The only thing that _really_ bothered him was that it looked like he wasn't going to get away from this. The Doctor took pride in his ability to talk himself out of mostly anything, but not even he could outtalk Q. He considered himself above such lowly things as basic decency and logic. And he wasn't easy to confuse, either… although perhaps he could get away with distracting him.

"This is all quite sudden, though. I mean, why now? Why like this? And yes I know you were bored, but you could have showed up anytime on my timeline anyway. And you chose a spot when it's been _ages_ since we last met," he said, barely stopping for breath, and then went on without much thought. "I had no hints at all about this, you know. I really didn't expect to meet you again now."

"Of course you didn't," said Q. "Reunions are much more fun when they're unexpected."

"It's never unexpected for _you_," the Doctor complained.

"Well, that's part of the fun."

The Doctor glared at him for a whole minute. He shook his index finger at him for a moment, opened his mouth to say something, changed his mind, then changed his mind _again_.

"Fine," he gave in at last, knowing it was useless to try to argue. "But you better make it interesting. I save planets all the time, after all. It's not as if this is new to me."

"You wound me, Doctor," Q sighed, with that flair for bad drama he'd always had. "You can accuse me of many things, but if there's one thing you have to admit is that I have never been _boring_."

"You better live up to that, then," the Doctor said cheerfully. "What if it turns out you've grown dull in your old age? Now, _that_ would be disappointing…"

"And still, _you_ are the one who talks and talks and talks instead of doing anything. As usual," said Q. "Are you going to save that planet or not."

The Doctor gave him a sideways look, then grinned wildly.

"When have I ever said no to a challenge?"

Q's only answer was to disappear from the TARDIS. Laughing and shaking his head a bit, the Doctor patted the command console, in a hopefully soothing way.

"C'mon, old girl, don't fret too much," he said. "This is going to be _fun_."


End file.
